"Father, dear father!"--he had risen, and sat upon the couch, but she still knelt before him, weeping, and clasped his hands in hers--"I thought of you and of this letter, all the time. All last night till I slept, and then I dreamed you were tearing it to pieces, and trampling on it. I awoke, and lay thinking of you, and of ----. And I thought I heard you come down-stairs, and I came here to find you. But you were lying here so quietly, with your eyes open, and so strange a light on your face. And I knew--I knew you were dreaming of him, and that you saw him, for the letter lay beside you. O father! forgive me, but do hear me! In the name of this day--it's Christmas day, father--in the name of the time when we must both die--in the name of that time, father, hear me! That poor woman last night--O father! forgive me, but don't tear that letter in pieces and trample it under foot! You know what I mean--you know--you know. Don't tear it, and tread it under foot!" She clung to him, sobbing violently, her face buried in his hands. "Hush, hush! It's all well--it's all well. Here, sit by me. So. I have"--his voice failed him, and he paused. But sitting by him--clinging to him--her face hidden in his bosom--she heard the strong beating of his disenchanted heart! "My child, I know your meaning. I will not tear the letter to pieces and trample it under foot. God forgive me my life's slight to those words. But I learned their value last night, in the house where your blank letter had entered before me." She started, and looked into his face steadfastly, while a bright scarlet shot into her own. "I know all, Netty--all. Your secret was well kept, but it is yours and mine now. It was well done, darling--well done. Oh! I have been through strange mysteries of thought and life since that starving woman sat here! Well--thank God!" "Father, what have you done?" The flush had failed, but a glad color still brightened her face, while the tears stood trembling in her eyes. "All that you wished yesterday," he answered. "And all that you ever could have wished, henceforth I will do." "O father!"--She stopped. The bright scarlet shot again into her face, but with an April shower of tears, and the rainbow of a smile. "Listen to me, Netty, and I will tell you, and only you, what I have done." Then, while she mutely listened, sitting by his side, and the dawn of Christmas broadened into Christmas-day, he told her all. And when he had told all, and emotion was stilled, they sat together in silence for a time, she with her innocent head drooped upon his shoulder, and her eyes closed, lost in tender and mystic reveries; and he musing with a contrite heart. Till at last, the stir of daily life began to waken in the quiet dwelling, and without, from steeples in the frosty air, there was a sound of bells. They rose silently, and stood, clinging to each other, side by side.